Q: Tell us a little bit about this transition. How do you feel in the car?
JV: It feels great. You know, just getting up to speed, getting used to driving the car, it’s very different to anything I’ve driven before so it’s just for it to become natural and have fun.

Q: You were also in a truck for a little bit. How is it? Is there anything about the car that is different from the truck?
JV: Yeah, the truck and the car are very different so I just need to get used to it. Different driving, different cornering speeds and all that, and a different way of working on the car.

Q: Coming from open wheel to a 3600lb racing car – do you have to man-handle it? ‘Cos driving an open-wheel car you just touch the steering wheel and it changes direction.
JV: Yeah it’s not as responsive but the track is very different as well. An oval is much more open so the driving style is different anyway. On a similar type of track there’d be a huge difference yes.

Q: What attracted you to NASCAR?
JV: When I was racing in the states, it was CART at the time (or ChampCar), it was fun racing on ovals and I was missing that a bit in Europe. You know, I did what I had to do in F1 and was ready to move on to something else, and there’s only one other series in the world that’s as big as F1 and that’s NASCAR.

Q: NASCAR seems to be attracting a wide variety of drivers now. Is that one of the reasons, and perhaps it’s just its popularity, that more and more international drivers are being attracted to the sport?
JV: Well it is becoming more and more popular, even overseas which is great, and the racing is good and I think you can get bored watching races where there’s no action on the track. There’s a lot of action in NASCAR so I think that’s what’s making everyone interested.

Q: How many guys do you talk to – do you talk with Juan-Pablo and say ‘hey’ you know ‘I can do this too’!?
JV: Not yet. I’m sure I’ll see him soon and we’ll have a good chat. But you know I took a year off from racing and a year off from drivers too. I was a year away from the track.

Q: What so you just decided ‘I’m gonna just clear my head’
JV: Yeah, just chill, the family, babies, that kind of stuff, then get back to racing.

Q: Tell me what the plans are. What does Bill Davis have in mind for you?
JV: Well, it’s not all finalized yet. The schedule is very busy but we still have to get some budget to get going. So it’s some testing and some tough racing and all that, but we need to get a budget first.

Q: Yeah, I guess to get you a truck and out on the track is the most important thing. I heard somewhere that you were going to Vegas.
JV:  That would be great. It all depends!

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